Total pages in book: 184
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
But it went to voicemail.
Shit.
“Why are you calling her? Do you owe her money?” his mother asked. “Don’t pay her. When I got here, she was lying on your couch and eating your food. She left a mess and hadn’t hoovered the living room. I did that before I started dinner.”
“Wait . . . what?” He couldn’t even comprehend what she was saying. “Of course I don’t owe her money.”
He needed to check in with her, though as she hadn’t mentioned needing any money.
You should insist that she give up her apartment and move in with you.
He was definitely starting to think more and more like Alexei.
“Mum, she’s not my cleaner, she’s my girlfriend.”
The wooden spoon dropped straight onto the floor, sending splatters of tomato sauce everywhere. But his mother didn’t seem to notice as she gaped at him.
“She’s . . . you . . . what?”
“Tamsyn isn’t my cleaner, she’s my girlfriend.”
“You have a girlfriend?” she cried before throwing her hands up into the air. “Hallelujah!”
Salem sighed as his mother did a small dance of joy.
Really? Was it such a revelation that he had a girlfriend? Sure, he hadn’t had one in years. And certainly none that his mother met.
Or the rest of his family.
“You will need to bring her to Sunday dinner,” his mother bossed as she picked up the wooden spoon she’d dropped. “I can’t believe you haven’t told me before now. Why did you keep it a secret? Wait, why did she tell me that she was your cleaner, then?”
“I wasn’t keeping it a secret, mum,” he said. “And she was our cleaner. That’s how we, uh, met.”
Because you didn’t tell your mum that you first met your girlfriend at a BDSM club.
“Oh. Wait. So you’ve only known her a few weeks?”
“Yes, which is why I hadn’t told you about her.”
“But that still doesn’t explain why she said nothing. And why was she here alone?”
“She wasn’t meant to be. Roman was supposed to be home.” And he wasn’t going to tell his mum that she’d been staying with them.
There were some things that your mother didn’t need to know, no matter how old you were.
“And I don’t know why she didn’t tell you that she is my girlfriend. Perhaps she was taken aback by my mother just turning up without an invitation.” He shot her a stern look.
But his looks didn’t work on his mother, unfortunately.
It could have something to do with the fact that she’d given birth to him and changed his diaper as a baby.
“Pfft, I don’t need an invitation. I’m your mother.”
“And I live with two other guys.”
“Who don’t care if I visit.”
She wasn’t wrong. They didn’t care. But they might if they found out that she’d driven Tamsyn away.
Not that it was her fault.
No, this was all his fault. He should have prepared Tamsyn better. His mother did these impromptu ‘pop ins’ now and then. Although he had thought Roman was going to be home all day.
Right.
None of that matters now. You just have to find Tamsyn.
“I have to get in touch with her,” he told his mum. “I’m going to try calling her again.”
“Of course. I feel terrible about the way I talked to her. Please explain that I had no idea she was your girlfriend.”
Should he tell her that Tamsyn wasn’t just his girlfriend?
No.
That wasn’t a conversation he needed to have right now.
First, he tried calling Tamsyn. Still no answer. Shit.
He shot off a message to the group chat.
Salem: Just got home. Mum is here. She met Tamsyn, but Tamsyn told her that she was our cleaner. Mum told her to leave as she thought she was being lazy and now I don’t know where she is. She’s also not answering her phone. Roman, I thought you were home all day today?
No answer. Crap.
He wasn’t even sure where she lived. But Roman had her fill in a temporary employment agreement and NDA, so that would surely have her address.
As he walked down the hallway, he called her again.
Then he froze.
Was that the sound of a phone ringing? Was she here? Had she come back?
He held his phone to his ear as he pinpointed where the noise was coming from.
Her bedroom.
He rushed inside and then he saw her phone sitting on the nightstand, charging. They’d picked up a charger for it the other day when shopping.
Fucking hell.
She’d left without her phone? He opened her closet. All of the clothes he’d bought her were in here. And so was her old, ratty jacket that he’d replaced.
Then another thought occurred to him, and he rushed down the stairs to the coat closet.
“Salem? Are you all right?”
“Bollocks,” he muttered.
“Salem! Language!” his mother scolded.
Salem took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. He wanted to snap at his mum but it wasn’t her fault.